Pending a government

As the Swedish Parliament has not yet accepted a government after the election on 9 September, the transitional government has been forced to submit a budget bill. This means that the bill in the vast majority of cases, including the education area, reflects the budget for 2018. Last year, we commented on the budget bill in a blog post and also wrote a more in-depth one comment on the balance between investing in quantity and quantity in the expansion of the university. We were then worried that many investments needed in higher education did not materialize, but we were also critical of investments that only involve the expansion of higher education; now these are also absent. For higher education to be a real choice for everyone, there must be enough training places. We are soon heading for a recession and all types of post-secondary education must have the conditions to meet the coming increase in search pressure.

The positive thing is that the price base amount continues to be calculated, which means that, among other things, the study grant follows the price development in society. In addition, the investment in summer courses remains - and this time the conditions are better for the higher education institutions to use the resources as they have had more time to plan for a new course offering.

Below are initiatives that Sweden's students think are a priority to include as soon as the next government takes office and is given the opportunity to submit amendments.

Resources - price tags now, in the long run strut and election promises of higher quality. Last week, the University Chancellery showed that students get too little contact with their teachers. These are problems that have been around for a long time. Resources for higher education have been eroded for decades, leading to poorer quality education. No government can turn a blind eye to the need for quality initiatives to ensure that today's students have a high quality of their education. The state budget states how much the higher education institutions receive for each student who participates in education and takes points. These figures must be calculated properly, to correspond to what a high-quality education actually costs.

The conditions for student influence must be strengthened. The student unions today do an important job of strengthening and ensuring the quality of both the education and the students' work environment. To be able to do this work, however, requires the right conditions, something that does not exist today. All parts of higher education need the right conditions, including the unions. State union support must increase, both to guarantee independence from the higher education institutions and to provide the right conditions. SFS is positive that the Left Party raised the issue during the election campaign and we now hope that more parties will follow in their footsteps.

Students today face a very uncertain housing market. This leads to students today having very high housing costs and that the opportunity to find and afford the rent becomes a decisive factor for many to start and complete their studies. The future government must invest in making construction cheaper and adapt the housing allowance to students' conditions so that it meets the needs that exist.

Our hopes are also that the next government will promptly consider the interim report concerning health insurance systems in the Inquiry Safer and More Efficient Studies inquiry, so that the long wait for a functioning health insurance system can be incorporated into budget work as quickly as possible. During the autumn, several investigations have shown that students feel worse than other groups and therefore this is an urgent measure.

While waiting for a government, there are thus many important investments in students that fail.